Gifts from the Sky
by Chatterbox Angel
Summary: The Black Organization has been taken down, but Haibara has yet to find an antidote.  Conan will never give up the fight to get back his former life, but the answer comes in a form none ever expected.  All legends have a grain of truth.  KaiShin
1. Chapter 1

001. Beginnings.

The first time he had tangled with Kaitou Kid had, of course, been as Shinichi Kudo at the Clock Tower heist. But the game the two of them played really begun when he was already Conan Edogawa. After all, Kid had granted no nickname to the Great Detective of the East Shinichi Kudo, but he called Conan Edogawa Tantei-kun. Kaitou Kid truly saw his smaller form as a rival, not just as a little kid, and that was something Conan would always be thankful for.

Truth be told, Conan wasn't sure if he would still be sane without getting to attend Kid's heists. He'd been stuck as in his persona as a child for over two years, and with the Black Organization taken down, he could only wait for Haibara to create the antidote. Sure, there were still some underlings in the organization that eluded the FBI; they hadn't been able to catch all of them. But Conan's involvement in that case was done for the most part, and he was back to being stuck behind the scenes as the police and Detective Mouri were skillfully manipulated into solving the various murders that still followed him around.

So now, the only times he could go all out were Kid heists. The Kid Taskforce generally ignored his presence, and Kid treated him as an equal. Since there was no reason to hold back, he often let loose. Although, he kind of wondered if maybe Kaitou Kid was getting tired of dodging soccer balls aimed at his head. But what was Conan supposed to to? For as much as Kid treated him as a rival, an equal, he still taunted Conan like he did everyone else, and Kid's taunts often hit way too close to home. And at those times, the soccer ball was already speeding toward the thief before Conan even realized he'd kicked it.

A/N: So, I've been meaning to do one of the 100 theme challenges for a while, and I finally started on one. Although the chapters will be short, drabble-length, they will string together chronologically in a formal plotline. I don't know how long this fic will be, at leas 100 chapters obviously, but if by the time I am done with the prompts, I am still not done with the plot, the fanfiction will continue on until I have reached an ending that satisfies me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed prompt 1 and will enjoy those coming in the future.

As always, please read and review or provide a detailed, in-depth critique if it behooves you.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito or any of the characters in either series. All rights reserved to Goshou Aoyama.

002. Middles.

Of all places for it to happen, Conan really shouldn't have been surprised to figure it out when he was in the middle of chasing after Kid up an incredibly long flight of stairs. The thought caused him to stumble for a moment, and after that, he'd had to perform a series of impressive acrobatics to get past the next few steps without ending up covered in pink feathers and glitter. He paused for a moment then, to regain his bearings and cast a glare at the pink atrocities that had almost adhered themselves to him.

Then, he returned to dashing up the stairs as fast as his shrunken body would take him. When he finally reached the rooftop, he was panting, but he had his watch at the ready, aimed straight at the phantom thief clad in white.

"Tsk, tsk," Kaitou Kid said as he moved his finger back and forth. "Stumbling over one of the traps meant for my beloved Taskforce. I've come to expect more than that from you Tantei-kun. Are you losing your touch? It would certainly become a lot less fun for me if you were."

"If you'll notice," Conan growled as a light dusting of pink made it's way onto his cheeks. "I avoided all the glitter and feathers."

"True," Kid said walking over to him with a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Well, mostly." With his usual smirk, a white-gloved hand reached down and pulled a single pink feather out of his hair. Blushing even darker, Conan squeaked pushed himself away from the thief. Chuckling, Kaitou Kid bid him the usual farewell and flew off into the night.

If anyone noticed that it took a little longer than usual for Conan to come down and help the majority of the Taskforce escape from the Kid traps, no one mentioned it.

A/N: Welcome to the end of prompt 2. I hope you enjoyed it. Prompt 1 got a lot more attention than I expected it to, especially with how short it is. Thank you to all readers, favoriters, alerters, and especially thank you to the reviewers.


	3. Chapter 3

003. Ends.

Conan stared down at the cell phone in his hand. This was the one phone call he had never thought he would make, but he had to tell her. It wouldn't be fair to either of them if he didn't, and he cared for her far too much to lie to her like that. But he didn't want to break her heart either, and he knew this phone call would do just that. Bracing himself, he dialed the number and put the phone to his hear.

"_Moshi moshi. Mouri Detective Agency."_

"Hi Ran. It's me."

"_Shinichi! Where have you been? I've read all about that huge case in the papers, how you orchestrated the takedown of one of the largest criminal organizations ever. Now that your big case is done, why haven't you come home? How long do you think I've been waiting for you?"_

"I can't come home just yet. There's still something I have to do before I can. And honestly, I'm hoping the media coverage dies down quite a bit before I do. But Ran, that's not why I called…" He paused then, not quite sure how to break the news to her.

"_Shinichi? What's wrong? Shinichi? Why can't you come home yet?" _Her voice sounded worried, not even a trace of sadness was in her voice, and he already felt like the worst person in the world.

"Ran, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't…Ran, please don't wait for me anymore…Find someone else… I still love you, just not…"

"_Shinichi, no, please no." _Her voice was quivering, and even though he couldn't see her, he knew that tears were already streaming down her face._ "Why? I thought that you...I mean, you always call. And what you told me in London…Two years. I've been waiting for over two years for you, only you."_

"I know, Ran. And I'm sorry. I loved you more than anything else in the world, but I've fallen for someone else. I couldn't lie to you about something like this. I'm sorry."

"_Shinichi, I hope you never come back. I don't ever want to see you again!" _

And with those parting words, she hung up. Well, he should have expected that. Everything she had said was true after all. She probably didn't mean those parting words, but Conan knew it would be a long time before she forgave him. And somewhere deep down, that was somewhat of a relief. He didn't want her forgiveness, not when he'd never forgive himself for breaking her heart like that.


	4. Chapter 4

004. Insides.

Sometimes, he just needed to get away. Away from the act of being Conan. Away from the dead bodies that followed him practically everywhere. Away from the reporters who always followed him. And when he needed to get away, to be alone, he went home to the Kudo mansion and holed himself in the vast library of nothing but mystery novels.

He had needed to be alone when he made that phone call. Needed time to work up the courage to make it. Needed time alone afterwards to reflect upon it and his own feelings. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone inside the Kudo mansion anymore. At least, it didn't feel like it with the flock of reporters waiting outside. He hadn't noticed it as he was walking to his true home, too wrapped up in his own head to notice, but one reporter had followed him from school all the way to the Kudo mansion. And after an hour, that one reporter had multiplied in a few dozen. He knew exactly what they were waiting for too. So much for his home being a refuge.

Sighing, he retreated further into the library and picked up a few books to take with him back to the Mouri Detective Agency. At this rate, reading there would be more peaceful than reading here. If nothing else, Ran could easily scare away all the reporters. And while that thought made him feel extra guilty after the phone call he'd just made, he knew her well enough to know that she would welcome the distraction.

As he walked out of the library, he tucked his favorite Sherlock Holmes titles snuggly inside his backpack, the well-loved Sign of Four on top, and hidden below the small stack of Doyle novels were a few of the Arsene Lupin series.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed prompt 4 for Gifts from the Sky and continue to enjoy all future installments. Right now, I'd like to give a special thanks to LMeg9.20 for reviewing every chapter thus far. It's good to know that you enjoy my work so much. As always, thanks to all readers, alerters, and favoriters, and please review or provide a detailed, in-depth critique if it behooves you.


	5. Chapter 5

005. Outsides.

The bright flashes of light that assaulted his vision as soon as he opened the front door felt like they almost blinded him, but they certainly didn't surprise him. Thankfully, the flashes only lasted for a few moments as the reporters quickly realized that it was Conan Edogawa, Shinichi's only slightly famous younger cousin that was coming out and not the super sleuth himself. Though, that didn't stop them from pushing past each other in attempts to be the first one to ask him questions.

Pasting on the best little kid smile he could under the circumstances, Conan shut the front door to the Kudo mansion behind him and bravely strolled down the walk, out the gate, and faced the reporters.

"Is Kudo Shinichi still inside?"

"What, if anything, has he told you about the vast criminal syndicate take down?"

"How long has he been working on the case?"

"Do you know why he decided to work with the American FBI instead of the Japanese police force like he always did in the past?"

That last question almost made Conan frown as he fought the urge to tell the reporter who asked that question just how stupid he was. Past articles had already come out detailing how certain police officers, their higher ups, and elected officials had been cooperating with the Black Organization. And as far as he knew, the FBI, unlike the Japanese police, had always been able to root out the spies in their ranks. Still, he wasn't about to tell that to these reporters, and he had to keep up the image of an intelligent child that was in fact a child and not a teenage consciousness trapped inside the body of one.

"Oh, Shinichi-niisan still hasn't come home," Conan chirped up at them. "I just came here to grab a few books to read. Did you know Shinichi-niisan has a whole library filled with nothing but mystery books?" He spread his arms out as he said this, gesturing wildy with seemingly child-like excitement. "And he told me that I could come borrow them whenever I wanted to as long as I returned them. See, I wanna be a detective when I grow up, just like him!"

After he was done talking, the reporters visibly deflated. As he pasted an expression of innocent confusion on his face, they thanked him for his comment, and the crowd dispersed quickly, meaning the shrunken detective could walk home in relative peace.


	6. Chapter 6

006. Hours.

Conan shut the door to his bedroom with a sigh as he rubbed his forehand with his free hand. Ran had been more than angry when he got home, and for the first time since he'd been shrunk, she actually yelled at Conan for being late without calling. Well, that was after she scared off the few reporters that had bothered to follow him back to the detective agency. The miniature detective highly doubted he'd see those particular faces again, at least in this form.

Ran had held her anger until after she made sure Conan was fed and finished with his homework before launching into a rant about how worried she had been and how Conan really needed to learn to call if he was going to be late. Ran's lecture started loud, and her volume only increased as she continued on. Before long, Conan had already developed a pounding headache, but he endured her wrath in silence, feeling he deserved all this and more. After all, he knew exactly what had caused to throw Ran so off kilter that she was shouting her beloved little brother Conan. He also knew that she would feel bad later, when she realized what she was doing right then. It'd been no more than a few hours, and already, the bespectacled boy felt like the worst person in the world.

By the time she had finally run out of steam, three hours had passed. Conan had almost to collapse in relief when Ran had told him to go to bed, but he resisted the urge to just sink further into the couch and headed to his room. In all the years he'd known her, Conan had never seen her explosive anger last four hours on end. It usually sizzled out as quickly as it came. He supposed that, more than anything else, spoke of how deeply he had hurt her. And even though he felt as though the guilt were eating him alive, he knew he'd done the right thing.


	7. Chapter 7

007. Days.

For days after that fateful phone call, Ran was still in a bad mood. She'd been short with just about everyone, but at the same time, she had bouts of almost depression. Her friends tried to be understanding and supportive when they heard what happened; Sonoko especially, who had threatened to castrate Shinichi the next time she saw him. Still, her mood had taken its toll, and she was generally left to her own devices after school.

So, Ran had put more focus on taking care of Conan, seemingly because it gave her a bit of comfort and kept her mind mostly off Shinichi. And because of this, Conan had made sure to be home for her more than was strictly necessary, forgoing play dates with the Shounen Tanteidan during the next weekend to stay at ome and be fussed over by her. He'd been acting more like a little kid than he'd ever had. And Ran had been eating it up, alternately smothering him with attention and admonishing him for being spoiled.

It was that Sunday night when Ran finally pulled Conan aside to apologize for how she'd acted the night of the phone call. She had made all of Conan's "favorite" foods for dinner and baked a fresh lemon pie for dessert. By the time they sat down to dessert, Kogorou had left to go play Mahjong, so they were alone. With an excited little boy squeal, Conan had instantly dug into the lemon pie without a thought.

"Ne, Conan-kun," Ran said with a little smile as she took a small bite of her own piece of pie. "I wanted to talk to you about the lecture I gave you the other day."

"What about it, Ran-neechan?" Conan chirped in that adorable little boy voice of his.

"Well, I wanted to apologize," Ran replied. "For shouting at you. It's not you I'm upset with, and I'm really sorry I took it out on you."

"It's okay, Ran-neechan," Conan replied, taking another bite.. "You made me all that great food and this really, really good lemon pie too." Then, he smiled even wider than before as he made exaggerated yummy sounds.

"Why are you acting…" she stopped as a look of realization dawned in her eyes, and a sad smile was brought to her face. "He talked to you, didn't he? That detective geek."

"Yeah," the miniature detective said looking away. "Shinichi-niisan asked me to be extra nice and understanding to you for a while. He said he did something that hurt you really bad and that he couldn't ever make it up to you. So, he asked me to try to comfort you for him. Am I doing something bad?"

"No, no, Conan-kun," Ran answered, that sad smile remained. "Thank you. I really appreciate it." They finished eating their respective pieces of pies in silence, and Conan took the lack of conversation as a hint that Ran wanted to be left alone. So when he was done, he cleared the table and put the leftover pie in the fridge before returning to his room and continuing his way through one of the Arsene Lupin novels.

Not even thirty minutes after he'd started reading did he hear muffled sobs coming from the other side of the door. Slowly, he put down the book and peeked his head out the door to see Ran crying into a pillow on the couch. Shuffling over to her quietly, he tugged on her pant leg and said, "Ran-neechan?"

"Oh, Conan-kun," she sobbed and pulled him onto her lap, squeezing him for all she was worth. "Why doesn't he love me anymore?" As she cried into his shoulder, Conan could only hold her with his too small arms, knowing that if her anger had lasted hours, her first flood of tears since that phone call was going to last for days.


	8. Chapter 8

008. Weeks.

When time is split in two halves

And the dragon rises from its slumber

I will come to save her

From its wrath

- Kaitou Kid

That was the heist note that had been delivered straight to Conan Edogawa. He had, of course, taken it to the police and managed to worm his way into the meeting room where they attempted to decipher his note. As easy as the note was, he had still had to lead the taskforce by their hands and feet to discover the exact time and target that the thief had been alluding to.

"The dragon rises from its slumber," Conan could remember Nakamori saying. "Refers to the day Kid will strike. The Chinese New Year is approaching, and it will be the year of the Dragon. So, he plans to strike sometime on January 23rd. When time is split in two halves obviously refers to the exact time, but we have yet to determine what that means. The last two lines, therefore, must identify Kid's target. If anyone has any ideas, speak up."

Staring on as the adult around him came up with the most ludicrous ideas, Conan decided on the officer who would become his temporary marionette and walked up to him with a wide smile and said, "Ne, oji-chan, why is Kaitou Kid going to save the princess? Isn't he a bad guy?"

"Princess?" the officer was staring at Conan like he'd grown a second head.

"Mmmm," the shrunken detective chirped. "I was watching this show yesterday, and it said that western dragons are evil creatures that always kidnap princesses and hide them away in towers. But Kid's a bad guy too, so shouldn't he be helping the dragon?"

"Princess…princess…that's it!" the officer had exclaimed. "He's going after the Princess Diamond on display at the Beika Museum. Nakamori-keibu!"

As he moved to get up, Conan grabbed his wrist and said, "A-re-re! You have a watch with numbers in a circle, I've never seen that. Haha, the lines are funny. They could almost reach out and cut it in half. That's so funny, ne, oji-chan!"

"That's it!" Ginzo Nakamori shouted, having overheard Conan's last comment. "When time is split in two halves means 6:00. At 6:00, the hour and minute hand split the clock's face in half, and the hands are pointing at twelve and six, which is half of twelve. Kid is coming for the Princess Diamond on January 23 at 6:00."

After the note had been deciphered, things had gone normally enough. The day of the heist arrived, Kid got the gem, Conan chased after him, and the taskforce got caught in various traps attempting to do the same thing. Kid got to the roof and did his ritual of holding the gem up to the moonlight before Conan burst onto the scene. Their usual battle of wits commenced, and Conan retrieved the jewel while Kid escaped to steal again another day. Now, there had been nothing wrong or dissatisfying with that heist, but it had been two weeks ago and brought something rather annoying to his attention.

Crushing on Kaitou Kid, an internationally wanted thief, came with a great deal of problems. For one, they were rivals on opposite sides of the law. For two, falling for the thief had the rather unpleasant side effect of hurting Ran, one of the most important people in his life. Then there was the fact that he was trapped in a child's body, so even if he ever became crazy enough to actually confess, his condition would have prevented it. It's not like Kid knew his true identity. For that matter, he didn't know Kid's true identity either, didn't know what he was like behind the monocle and beneath the mask. Of course, there was a whole host of other problems as well, but he could handle all of that. The one thing that irked him more than anything else was the fact that several long weeks passed by each time before even the chance to just see the thief again came up.

And Conan knew it would probably be longer than two weeks before the next heist notice came along. Kid rarely ever held two heists close enough for him to attend on his own so close together. He was going to go crazy waiting that long, but what other choice did he have? He couldn't completely let loose with people like Ran or Kogorou nearby, and Hattori couldn't come out from Osaka to take Conan to every heist. Agasa had Ai to take care of and had to be home so as to serve as Conan's alibi. So, he was stuck with the pattern of waiting longingly for weeks until the next time he could see his magician bathed in white.


	9. Chapter 9

009. Months.

It was three months after the Black Organization had been taken down, a mere day after he had been thinking wistfully of Kaitou Kid, that Conan finally got the call from Haibara that he'd been waiting for. He had just gotten back to the Mouri Detective Agency with Ran and Kogorou after yet another particularly long murder investigation, and Conan was more than ready to just collapse on his bed when his cell phone rang, the screen brightly displaying her number. Sighing and knowing she wouldn't call so late without a good reason, he answered the call with a dull sounding, "Moshi moshi."

"Kudo-kun," Haibara's voice sounded strained through the phone. "Can you sneak out and come over to the professor's house?"

"Haibara, I'm tired, really, really tired," Conan grumbled. "It's been a really long day. Can this wait until morning?"

"It's something you'll want to know right away," she answered. Conan sighed again and told her he would be there soon before hanging up. He didn't have to wait very long for the Mouris to go to bed; they had been just as tired as the miniature detective. Once he heard snoring from both father and daughter, the shrunken teen slipped out of the detective agency and headed over to the professor's house.

Once he got there, he found Ai sitting on a stool in her lab surrounded by glowing monitors, stacks of notebooks and paper, and individual test areas for each trial or temporary cure. When she heard the door open, Ai had turned her attention on him, beckoning Conan inside.

"Kudo-kun," she had said with total seriousness in both her eyes and tone. "I've checked and rechecked the results over a dozen times o make sure I was absolutely correct. I've been working non-stop during all my free time for these past months, and Kudo-kun, this is my final answer."

A/N: So, I'm really, really happy right now, because so many people are favoriting, alerting, and reviewing my fanfiction. And today, I got an awesome surprise. RedHerring1412, someone who I've been a fan for years, liked my fanfiction enough to add it to her story alerts! Anyway, I'll try to continue these daily updates for as long as I can, at least another week, but school starts next Monday. Again, I'd like to thank LMeg9.20 for the consistent reviews and everyone else who drops me a line. It's always really great to know others are enjoying my work.


	10. Chapter 10

010. Years.

16. That number represented the number of years he'd been Shinichi Kudo.

2. That number represented the number of years he had been Conan Edogawa.

72. Based of the average lifespan of the Japanese male, that number represented the number of years he had left of being Conan Edogawa.

"I'm sorry, Kudo-kun," Conan's blood had run cold when she said his name for the third time attached to an apology. "There is no permanent cure, no scientific way to get your original body back except to just grow up again. The temporary antidotes are the best I can do, and even if you took them continually to stay as your teenage self, your body would build up immunity to them within one to two weeks. I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can do for you."

She had looked away from him after that, like she was afraid to see what expression or emotion she would see on his face other than shock. Conan was not sure what Ai had been expecting, but at that moment, he was unable to feel anything other than shock and disbelief.

He had always been absolutely certain that he would one day return to his life as Shinichi Kudo, renowned high school detective. Conan had always had faith in his own detective skills to bring the organization to its knees and Ai's knowledge of science to produce a cure. He had never prepared himself for the possibility of failure, and now, it was smacking him in the face.

In that moment, Conan wanted nothing more than to shout at Haibara and blame her for everything that was happening. But he couldn't do that to her. Maybe she had created the poison, but it wasn't her fault that he'd been caught unaware and drugged by Gin. Plus, she had done her best to find a permanent cure. It wasn't her fault that APTX4869 was one of the thousands of poisons on that planet that had no existing cure. So, he forced himself to remain silent as that first wave of anger washed through him.

When he was calm enough, he thanked her for the news in a hollow-sounding voice as he walked out the door. He had to get home before Ran noticed that Conan was gone. It wouldn't due to cause her any more heartache than he already had. After all, who knew how many years he would be living with here now?

In the days that followed, Conan quickly fell into a sort of apathetic haze. At first, Ran had thought he was just tired from all the excitement of the press and increase in cases at the agency. But those slowed down eventually and Conan's mood remained the same. Then, she'd been worried that he was suffering some form of childhood depression and took him to see a therapist. Of course, that hadn't worked, especially when the bespectacled boy refused to even talk to said therapist. Besides, he problem wasn't depression. He wasn't feeling sad; then again, he wasn't feeling anything at all.

Soon, everyone who knew Conan was extremely worried about the boy's welfare. The Shounen Tanteidan had gone above and beyond in their efforts to cheer him up. Agasa-hakase had made several new inventions for him. Kobayashi-sensei had called Ran several times to ask if anything had happened at home. Hattori and Kazuha made frequent trips from Osaka, and he had received numerous in-home visits from police offices like Satou and Takagi. Even Sonoko had expressed her concern, but none of it made any difference. Conan just didn't care anymore, and if they all didn't like it, well, they had years to get used to it.


	11. Chapter 11

011. Red.

Red – it was the color his life had become.

Red – it was the only color he saw anymore. His world was now devoid of color, he had lost anything that expressed emotion. Blue – the color of sadness and serenity. Yellow – the color of happiness and joy. Green – the color of contentment and envy. He had lost all of it. Even red, which was supposed to represent anger, love, and passion was only seen in one way now. Everything else in his life was monochrome.

The only red he saw anymore was the red of blood. As he existed day in and day out, no longer caring about the future he didn't want because of the future he couldn't have, the crimson color of a lost life was the only thing that got even a semblance of a response out of him anymore. Yes, he had given up on truly living his own life, but he hadn't given up his truth. The truth that no matter what one human never had the right to steal the life of another, and that if some human decided to play God in that way, they needed to be punished for it.

He solved murders by rote now, leading the police around on autopilot. He was now almost as good at manipulating his police division as Kaitou Kid was at manipulating his taskforce. It was depressing, gratifying, and slightly terrifying at the same time and all for the same reason: that a child could so easily control an entire police division from behind the scenes. Although it may be true that he wasn't really a child, the fact remained that adults didn't notice that they were being led around by what they thought was a child. Either way, there was only one reason he even bothered to hide his intelligence anymore. He may not care what anyone thought anymore, but he wanted to be left alone. And an intelligent child got a lot less attention than one that was a super genius.

A/N: Welcome to the end of prompt 11. I hope you enjoyed it.

And, I know I said I wanted to continue daily updates, and I really wanted to. But I've been fighting with the timeline, and for the sake of my sanity, I won't be posting the next three chapters until the day they are meant to happen. So, expect one each on this Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. After that, I don't know. Again, I'm really sorry about the lack of update for two days. I did try to update yesterday, but I tried to log in to upload the chapter, wouldn't let me.

On a different note, Kaida-14Kage I love you. Thank you so much for reviewing every single chapter. I was in review heaven for hours after I read them…and reread them. I'm so glad you liked my fanfiction so much. And as always, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and alerted.


	12. Chapter 12

012. Orange.

"Conan-kun," a voice called out to him loudly from behind. It sounded vaguely familiar, evoked a sort of feeling of fondness from his past life. It caused him to halt his steps and turn around to see little Ayumi chasing after him. When she finally caught up to him, she was panting and out of breath. He just stood there, waiting patiently to find out what she wanted. After all, he wasn't in any hurry to get to a place he didn't really care if he actually got to.

"Conan-kun," Ayumi gasped out, still a little out of breath. "I know it's only been five days since you've become like this, but I feel like you're getting farther and farther away from us, and I'm afraid you're never going to come back. So, I have to tell you before you're gone." She stopped talking then, like she was afraid to say what she wanted to, and she suddenly seemed to find the ground extraordinarily interesting. Every several seconds, Ayumi glanced up at Conan as though she was hoping for him to ask her what she needed to tell him, but he said nothing. She would receive no prompting from him. If whatever she needed to tell him was so important, she could say it on her own.

"Conan-kun," she said for the third time, almost seeming to parallel that conversation with Haibara. He wondered if he should feel something at that similarity, but he really didn't. It didn't even pique his curiosity as anything more than a barely interesting fact. It wasn't even as interesting as the whole five days nonsense she'd spouted mere seconds ago. Really, how could a mere five days feel like an eternity? Well, it didn't matter. She had sucked in her breath, he supposed she was about to say whatever it was she meant to say. "Iloveyou."

Those words were rushed out in a single breath, but Conan could easily distinguish what she had said. Ayumi's face was bright red at this point, and her breathing had picked up speed, obviously from nerves and excitement. She was still staring at the ground, so she couldn't see it, but Conan still had an entirely blank expression on his face that said he really didn't care about what she'd just said.

"Is that all?" his tone was as harsh and cold as his words. Ayumi's head shot up as she stared at Conan with shock. Silence reigned for several moments before the young girl burst into tears and fell to her knees with her hands buried in her face. The bespectacled boy just stared at her for several minutes with emotionless eyes until something somewhere deep inside him finally cracked, and he suddenly realized with a jolt what he'd just done. He had always known that he would someday have to reject his friend's feelings, but he'd just broken her heart in a way a million times more cruel than the way he'd done to Ran. With a gasp of horror, he knelt down next the girl and hesitantly reached out a hand.

"Ayumi-chan," he said softly, and she flinched, causing a healthy dose of guilt to inject itself straight into Conan's heart. "I'm sorry, Ayumi-chan, I really am. I can't return your feelings. I like someone else. But I'm really sorry for what I just said."

For a long time, the only sound heard was the small girl's muffled sobs, and the shrunken teenager just continued kneeling next to her gently rubbing her back until he almost felt like crying himself. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Conan, Ayumi looked back up, her eyes locked with his, and she did something he truly did not expect. She smiled. It was a very small, very sad smile, but it was still a smile.

"It's good to have you back Conan-kun," she said getting up. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she walked away, leaving behind a very confused eighteen turned eight year old, but as he watched her turn the corner, Conan noticed that she was wearing an orange headband.


	13. Chapter 13

013. Yellow

The sun was shining brightly every day, bathing the people of his world in a soft warm glow, and everyone in Conan's world was in a great mood because of the uncharacteristic good weather. Everyone except Conan, that is. He may have started living again, caring about the people and events going on around him, but he wasn't happy. No, even though he was learning to deal with the fact that he would never again be Shinichi Kudo, he was still mourning it.

It had been two days since Ayumi's confession, and the people around him were very relieved to note that Conan seemed to be getting better. However, they were all still concerned, wondering what had caused him to become so depressed in the first place, Ran especially. In the last two days, Ran had gone out of her way to be as nice to him as he had tried to be for her after that phone call. She had made at least one of his favorite dishes with every meal. She had told her father to let him poke around the prior day's crime scene undisturbed, reasoning that Conan was a very smart little boy who knew not to touch anything and was often very helpful. And she had taken him anywhere he "wanted" to go with the Shounen Tanteidan.

However, she was still determined to find out exactly what was wrong with Conan, and he knew that the time was fast approaching when she would demand to know exactly what had been going on. So, he was far from surprised when she sat him down after dinner one night, gave him a relatively large piece of lemon pie, and said, "Conan-kun, I'm really glad you've been getting better, and I don't want to see you get so sad again. But I need to know what happened to cause you to be so unhappy."

"Well, Ran-neechan," Conan said, letting some extra sadness to cloud his eyes as eh called up a few unshed tears. "Okaa-san called me a couple weeks ago. She said otou-san is really, really sick and that he might not get better. When I thought I might never see him again, I just felt so alone. It was so scary, like the whole world had gone dark and cold. But when I talked to Ayumi-chan a few days ago, I realized I wasn't alone. I just wish it hadn't taken what it did."

"What do you mean Conan-kun?" Ran asked, her tone both relieved for an explanation and worried about what he meant by that last question. "What did you do?"

"I made Ayumi-chan cry," Conan answered, not able to meet the concerned teenager's eyes. "I'm not proud of it, but when I realized what I'd done, I felt really, really bad. And I think she forgave me."

"Well, make sure you make it up to her," Ran said, and Conan could tell that she wanted to say more but held her tongue. She wanted to ask why he'd made the girl child cry and how exactly that brought him out of his depression. She wanted to tell him it wasn't good to take out your anger or pain on your friends. He knew this because he knew her so well, but she didn't say anything, so neither did he.

"I will, Ran-neechan," Conan tried to smile for her, but he couldn't manage. So, he just continued on, "Can I go to bed now? I'm really tired."

"Of course," Ran answered with a gentle smile as the shrunken teen left the table to go to his room, without having taken a single bite of lemon pie. On the way up to his room, Conan passed by a vase filled with carnations and stopped to stare. They, like the sun and the fruit from which lemon pie was made, were yellow. Of all the colors he could see again, yellow was the one he hated most. Yellow, which represented happiness, joy, and hope for the future, had no place in his life right now. He wanted it gone. He wanted to destroy the innocent flowers, crush them beneath his feet. But then, that would make Ran unhappy, and he'd done enough of that to last a lifetime. Sighing, he gave the innocent yellow carnations one last hateful glare and continued on up to the sanctuary of darkness he could have in his bedroom.


	14. Chapter 14

014. Green.

If it was humanly possible for skin to be come green, that's exactly the color Sonoko Suzuki's face, maybe her whole body, would be. As it was, her face was bright red with anger as she shouted her rather volume endowed lungs out at Conan. The miniature detective had clamped in his hands down on his ears in a rather desperate attempt to ward some of the damage that was sure to be caused by the banshee's extremely high-pitched shrieks. Not even the attempts of one Ran Mouri, said banshee's best friend, could lessen the girl's ire. Why was she screeching her head off at him anyway?

"What makes HIM so special?" Sonoko had jabbed her finger in his direction, as if it weren't completely obvious whom she was talking about. "Why was he singled out? What has he done to get such recognition from my beloved Kid-sama? Why does HE get a note, a personal invitation to the next heist from Kid-sama when I haven't gotten so much a puny, dime store Valentine's Day card?"

Ah, yes, the heist note. It had been delivered in the mail early that day, the morning after his talk with Ran about how he had come out of his "depression" just so happened to be the morning of Valentine's Day. He hadn't even known it was Valentine's Day at that point. Addressed to him by name only and in a pure white envelope, Conan had had no idea what was inside and opened it in full view of Ran and Sonoko on their daily walk to school. Neither of them had been very interested in it until he'd let out an involuntary squeak and blushed bright red. Of course, that definitely caught their attention, seeing as that was the most emotion they'd seen out of him in a week. Unfortunately, the instant they moved to read over his shoulder, Sonoko's vocal assault had started.

Now, they were in the police station, Inspector Nakamori reading a printed out copy of the note as Conan had refused to part with the original despite all heckling, screaming, threatening, and eventual begging on the inspector's part. Kid had given him a valentine damn it. Even if it wasn't of a romantic nature, at this point, the shrunken teen was more than willing to take what he could get. The attention from Kid had instantly brightened his mood, like he was a blushing schoolgirl, but he didn't care. The thief was paying attention him, and the note was his. If he could withstand pitch and volume from Sonoko, he could outlast volume and language from Inspector Nakamori. Of course, the few times the inspector had slipped up, he'd earned rather heated glares from Ran for not watching his language around a child. Either way, Conan stubbornly refused to let go of the notice, and no one wanted to rip the thing apart. So, they'd taken a picture of it and let the not child keep his note.

Well, actually, Inspector Nakamori was all for ripping it apart and taping it back together just to get it away from the "damn brat" but was stopped by the immovable mountain that was Ran. She had noticed that Conan had perked up quite a bit after getting the note. He'd actually managed a little smile, and no one could get around big sister Ran protecting her little brother Conan, especially not after what had been going on for the last week. That was one of the many things he'd forever be grateful to her for.

"SHUT UP!" Someone's voice had finally broken through the banshee shrieks and forced them to fade off into the distance. Of course, that someone was Inspector Nakamori. Conan really didn't know anyone else who could rival that girl's lungs other than the inspector, and he wasn't sure he really cared to. Thrusting the printed copy into Conan's face, he growled, "Explain."

Conan couldn't do anything but squeak as his face flushed in embarrassment and he read the note once more. On one side, there was an ordinary heist note, with a riddle that would tell them the date, time, and target. However, there was a little something extra on the other side. It was this side that was thrust into his face and the reason Sonoko had been yelling at him.

_To my dear Tantei-kun:_

_I've noticed that as of late, my favorite critic has not been himself. So, I thought I'd deliver a little puzzle, a mystery if you will, to my favorite detective as a small Valentine's Day gift. And you don't need to wait the traditional month to return the favor. Instead, I'd be much obliged if you would be so kind as to inform the police as to when and where my next heist was going to be. Of course, at this point, I am compelled to extend to you a personal invitation to attend my heist. I've heard my opinion very much matters when it comes to these things, and I do so enjoy the games we play. Until my heist then._

_-Kaitou Kid_

"Well, Kid keeps an eye on his detectives, doesn't he?" Conan squeaked out. "Everyone knows that. He's just trying to cheer me up."

"And why would he feel the need to cheer you up, hmm? Why would he consider a child an actual detective?" Nakamori growled at him, and the note that was thrust into his face was replaced by the inspector's glare. They were now far too close for Conan's comfort, and the shrunken teenager tried to back away. However, the inspector followed for a it until he was stopped by Ran and a karate chop to the head.

"Leave Conan-kun alone!" she almost shouted, but she kept her volume in check for the sake of Conan's ears. "He's only been helpful, brought the Kid note straight to the police. If he knew anything more about the thief, he would've told you already. And he's always helping out at crime scenes. As for why Kid might want to cheer him up, well, that's none of your business."

"Then, he should be able to tell us where and when the next heist is," Nakamori growled back. "If the note was meant for him."

Glaring at the inspector, Ran viciously plucked the printed copy out of his hand and snarled at him. "He probably hasn't even had time to read and think about it yet. What with all the screaming and yelling," then she leveled another glare at him. "And cursing."

Nakamori had the good graces to look at least a bit ashamed as Ran turned to the not child with her best big sister smile and said, "Conan-kun, I'm going to read the note aloud and you're going to tell me if you can think of anything, okay?"

"Okay Ran-neechan," Conan replied with a small smile and an expression filled with relief. Ran's smile grew when she saw that and began reading.

"At the house where bad luck reigns

The light of Italy is born

On the sea of green, it happens thrice

The Divine manages to catch the net

But fails to grasp the world

A dove will snatch from its perch

The Bringer of Truth

And bring it home to its next

Remember my favorite critic

This one is just for you

-Kaitou Kid."

"Hmm," Conan said as he thought about what the thief knew about him and how that might relate to the note. After a few minutes of thinking, a light bulb came on in his head, and the miniature detective smiled as he said, "I know when the heist is going to be! On February 18th."

"And how do you know that?" Inspector Nakamori demanded quite loudly, earning another karate chop from the smiling Ran. She would be damned if she let some stupid, overzealous police officer steal her little Conan-kun's smile.

"Because that is Roberto Baggio's birthday," Conan answered. "He's an Italian soccer player known as the Divine Ponytail. He's the only Italian to ever score a goal in three World Cups. But those three times, his team never won first place."

"That makes sense," Ran said encouragingly. "Can you think of anything else?"

"Nuh-uh," Conan replied shaking his head. "Not right now."

"Okay then," Ran said smiling. "Now, let's go have some lunch and get you to school. I called your teacher and told her you would probably be back for afternoon class." As she picked up her young charge and moved toward the door, she looked back at the inspector with a dangerously swee smile and voice said, "We're leaving now. If Conan thinks of anything else, I'll be sure to call. Good-bye."

When she left, Sonoko scampered after her. Nakamori was glued to the spot. He didn't want to let the brat go yet and wanted to punish the blonde banshee somehow, but he was afraid of the karate girl. She was damn scary. Her glare he could handle, but that last smile had sent a cold shiver down his back. If he ever had to deal with her again, it would be too soon.

A/N: Welcome to the end of prompt 14. I hope you enjoyed it and I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Like I've said before, school has started for me, so the updates will probably slow way down. I do hope that I can update soon, but I can't make any promises.


	15. Chapter 15

015. Blue.

It was Friday, February 17, the day before the heist was set to happen, and the police were going crazy out of their minds trying to figure out what exactly the target was. Despite the fact that the Kaitou Kid task force had done nothing but attempt to decipher the note for three whole days, they still didn't even know where to begin looking. And that's why a certain blue-eyed, glasses-wearing little boy had successfully extracted a promise from Nakamori-keibu for permission to attend the heist (provided he was escorted by a responsible party).

The little boy was obviously Conan Edogawa, and the responsible party would, of course, be Ran Mouri, especially after the not-child's morning performance.

"Nee, Ran-neechan," Conan had cooed in his best little boy voice with the most pitiful puppy dog eyes he knew how to muster. There might have even been a few fake almost tears in them, but the miniature detective wasn't going to admit to that. "Can you come with me down to the police station in Ekoda?"

"Why Conan-kun?" Ran asked, turning her attention away from clearing the table.

"Well," he looked down and scuffed his foot against the floor. "I want to go to the Kaitou Kid heist, but I don't think Nakamori-keibu really wants to let me. And I don't want to tell him where it is if he's just going to ban me from going. And I was maybe hoping you could get him to let me go."

"You figured it out?" Ran asked, sounding mildly surprised. Conan just nodded his head and shrugged a little helplessly, like it had been a bit of an accident that he did. "You do know that Kid is a criminal, right, Conan-kun? It could be dangerous."

"But Kid _never_ hurts _anyone!_" the shrunken teen said pouting, almost whining. "Please, Ran-neechan, please, please, please, please let me go."

"Okay," Ran said with a sigh, shaking her head a bit. But then, Conan let out a small smile brighter than anything she'd seen from him in weeks, and all her worries flew out the window. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get to go."

"Thank you, Ran-neechan!" Conan exclaimed as he smiled even wider and threw himself at her leg, wrapping his arms in a tight hug around it. Ran's smile widened too as she finished clearing the dishes with him attached to her leg.

So after school, Ran took her young charge back to the Ekoda police station and into the task force headquarters. After stubborn refusal from Conan to say anything and a lot of strong words aided by threatening posturing from Ran, Nakamori-keibu had extraordinarily reluctantly (after shouting until he was red, then blue in the face) agreed to allow Conan to attend the heist if, and only if, he was right about when and where it would be.

"It's the Shallow Shroud, the lapis lazuli on display at the Beika Museum, he's after this time," Conan chirped out. "And the heist's gonna be at 10 o'clock tomorrow night."

"Explanation," Nakamori demanded (shouted). "NOW!"

"Well, at first, I thought 'at the house where bad luck reigns' might refer to where the jewel is located," Conan said. "But that doesn't make sense when the 'Bringer of Truth' tells us exactly what the jewel is, and therefore, where it's hidden. That meant the first line refers to the time, and it's bad luck to live in a house whose address digits add up to 10. And since he wrote that the note was for me, I first looked at jewels at the Beika museum cuz that's the closest one to Ran-neechan's house. And the Shallow Shroud's nickname is Bringer of Truth."

That explanation was actually a partial lie, but Conan wasn't about to tell these officers, or Ran, that he had figured out a rough idea of the criteria Kaitou Kid looked for in a gem. He also wasn't going to tell them that he had made a list of gems that had yet to be targeted by Kid, that the information he had included alternate names for each gem, or that he had consulted that list to find the Shallow Shroud. He had come up with the last bit after finding out where the gem was located. After all, that's probably how Kid had decided, what with thinking Conan was actually a child and all.

"Do you have anymore questions for him?" Ran asked, glaring at the inspector; she still hadn't forgiven him for all the cursing. Nakamori glared back for several seconds before shaking his head and muttering something about preparations. "Well, you better get to it then. We'll see you all tomorrow."

When they got home, Conan gave Ran a final thanks as she headed off to make dinner, and she assured him that she would be more than happy to take him to the heist tomorrow. With a smile, he nodded and skipped up the stairs to his own room, and when he was alone behind the closed door, the bespectacled boy collapsed in relief on his bed. He was so tired from all that acting. He wasn't nearly so happy or recovered as he'd pretended but Conan had been willing to do just about anything to attend that heist. Exhausting himself to act happily for Ran's sake had obviously been in that category, but now he could just relax and be miserable in the safety of his room.

The note from Kid may have been welcome and something he'd always treasure, but it wasn't even close to being something that could help solve his problems. He still had to reconcile himself to the fact that he really did have to live out the rest of his life as Conan, but right then, the not-child still wasn't fully prepared to give up completely on Shinichi Kudo.

A/N: YAY! I actually managed to get this done. I'm sorry I haven't updated in nearly two months, but I finally did. School, life, and inspiration for other fanfiction kind of got in the way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if anyone is wondering, a lapis lazuli is a blue gem (y'know, to go with the set theme of this drabble).

Oh, also, I posted this in Lost and Found, but I figured I could put it here too. I am planning on going to North America's biggest anime convention this year of 2012 (also known as Anime Expo), and I will be there from Day 0 – Day 4. So, if any of you readers wanted to, I don't know, meet me, that would be the place to do it. I have finally decided what to cosplay, so those details will be posted on my profile so that you can actually find me. Or you can PM me, that works to.

I'm just throwing it out there, because one of the things that inspires me most to keep writing is physically seeing the people who enjoy my writing. I met a few people there last year, and it was great.


	16. Chapter 16

016. Violet

Conan spent most of Saturday in his bedroom, hiding away from a world that expected him to be a cheerful little kid, but Ran didn't suspect anything. He had come down to breakfast with a spring in his step and told the high school girl that he wanted to prepare for the Kid heist that night. Smiling at his childish enthusiasm, Ran told him she would leave him alone so he could play detective. Well, she didn't say it like that. She had whispered to him conspiratorially, like they were hiding Conan's intentions from Kogorou, but the shrunken teenager knew that she didn't see him as a real detective. However, that really didn't matter to him right then as long as he got to hide out in his room all day…alone, which he did.

When dinnertime rolled around, Conan had finally convinced himself that he had had enough self-pity time to be able to act happy for hours on end at the heist. Well, it would probably be a lot easier at the heist where he actually had something to focus on, but the hours left to go until it started would be a challenge, one he hadn't been feeling up to until just then. Allowing himself one final sigh, the not-child pasted a happy smile onto his face and ran downstairs into the kitchen where Ran awaited with a crockpot full of hot, steaming stew.

After a quick dinner, Ran cleaned up and took her impatient charge to the Kid heist. As usual, Nakamori-keibu shouted about no-good brats getting in his way as he tried to do _his_ job, but Conan paid it no mind. And since Ran was there with him, Nakamori's shouts actually held a lot less volume and colorful language than they usually did, an obvious plus. The shrunken detective had a feeling it was part because the inspector knew he should watch his language around children but mostly because Ran was there to remind him with her patented "You don't want to know what happens when I'm really angry" glare. Unless Conan was very much mistaken, Nakamori-keibu was very much afraid of the teenage girl. Funny thing was, Conan was afraid of her too, in certain respects. After all, he had plenty of reasons to be.

Anyway, it was a fairly usual heist. Nakamori shouted his grand plans to capture Kid to the television newscasters. Kid showed up, stole the Shallow Shroud, and easily made fools of his entire task force. And Conan sprang after him, not even thinking about the fact that Ran might be watching him. Fortunately for him, she was one of the several people affected by Kid's initial blast of knockout gas. The phantom thief hadn't wanted his favorite rival's baby-sitter to interrupt his fun, and he had noticed his Tantei-kun tended to hold back whenever the girl was around.

Nothing was truly out of the ordinary, until _it _happened.

It happened on the rooftop, as though it was destined place. Of course, it made sense what with rooftops being Kaitou Kid's favorite escape route and all. But for Conan, a rooftop with Kid was a special place, belonging only to them. A special moment in time for them alone, upon which no one else could intrude. Because others couldn't keep up with Kid, and Kid waited only for his the thrill of playing with his Tantei-kun…at least, that's what the shrunken detective wanted to believe.

It was on this particular night, February 18th, on this particular rooftop, that of the Beika Museum, that Conan's actions would lead him to see, for the first time, with startling clarity, Kaitou Kid's eyes. They were a violent shade of purple, showing shock that must have been reflected in both their faces. The not-child had never expected to get so close to the thief, despite all his confidence words to the contrary. It just wasn't done; the Moonlit Magician was supposed to untouchable. But Kid, dangerously close to the edge of the building, had been taunting him with the jewel, and Conan, without really thinking, had leapt using his high-powered shoes.

Within moments, he and the thief had collided, Kid falling backwards. And as the jewel disappeared in a puff of smoke, the phantom thief had used one hand to desperately grab at the bespectacled detective. He had to keep Conan safe; no one got hurt, especially not _his _detectives. As soon as he felt the small body of the detective wrapped safely against his chest and in his arm, Kid pressed the button that released his hang glider, and they flew off into the night.

A few minutes and several passed rooftops later, Kaitou Kid landed gracefully, miniature detective still safe in his arms. During the entire flight, Conan had fought not to take advantage of the position they were in. It would go against the unspoken rules of their rivalry for him to look at the phantom thief's face, to find clues of his true identity, while said thief was in the process of saving the detective's life. But Conan's curiosity was so much stronger now than it had been before when he was just trying to capture the thief…and not completely in love with him.

Somehow, he managed to convince himself not to look until just as the thief was setting him down on their newest rooftop. When the warmth the arms was beginning to fade, an odd sort of desperation had seized Conan, and contrary to everything he'd been telling himself about the honor and weird sort of trust their rivalry had built, Conan looked up and saw the brilliantly violet orbs of Kaitou Kid filled with shock.

It was only for a few seconds, and Conan did not focus enough to see any other details of his face. But that didn't matter. He had already betrayed the shaky foundation upon which their odd relationship of rivalry rested.

Looking away as quickly as he was able, the miniature detective pushed himself away from the phantom thief, and said, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…your eyes…I'm sorry."

Blushing violently as he recalled how beautiful those violet eyes of Kaitou Kid were, Conan took off as quickly as he was able, running away from the thief before the shock could turn to the disappointment he was sure to follow. As it was, the last emotion he had gleamed from the usually poker-faced Kid was confusion, and that was infinitely better than the barest glimpse of disappointment.

A/N: Hey y'all. Thanks for taking the time to read Ch. 16 of Gifts from the Sky. I'm just writing this author's note to apologize for my long absence from this particular fanfic. I know I'm not the best about updating, but I'm trying to be better about that. Hope you enjoyed this update, and please remember, these prompts are short because they are meant to be drabbles of a sort.


	17. Chapter 17

017. Brown.

As he practically flew down the stairs he had somehow magically found in his race to get away from Kid, Conan's brain, oh so helpfully, replayed that few seconds of a shocked pair violet eyes in his mind over and over until it was something he would never forget. The violet eyes that, despite their owners' poker face, could not lie. The eyes that held much in their depths beyond shock, emotions and feelings that Conan had barely seen long enough to glimpse but nowhere near close enough to read. The eyes that had not been fully visible despite being so close because it was still covered by the monocle and the other just slightly eclipsed by a few strands of brown hair that must have been bangs.

…

Brown hair…brown…hair…Brown…HAIR!

He knew what color Kaitou Kid's hair color was now too! This was so wrong on so many levels. He wasn't supposed to find out this way. Conan never wanted to learn anything about Kaitou Kid's true identity this way. Because he had learned some things, hadn't he? For whatever reason, Kid didn't seem to wear masks or wigs on his escapes; he trusted the shadows cast by the moon and stars to do their jobs. And he hadn't had the opportunity to disguise himself, being a bit more preoccupied with keeping Conan alive and maneuvering his glider through the air.

So, now the shrunken teen knew Kid's true eye and hair color. Of course, he was happy knowing that least bit of information about the man who now held his heart, but he hated the way he had found out, hated what it might cost him. But there was nothing he could do about it now…one can't just unlearn something so easily.

Sighing, he reached the ground floor and left through front doors that probably shouldn't have opened so easily or quietly. He figured the phantom thief had helped a little with that. Why wouldn't he? Kaitou Kid still had his honor, after all. But what would their relationship be like from now on? It was entirely up to Kid, wasn't it? …the person Conan had just betrayed.

As he walked back to the Beika Museum, Conan tried to stop his thoughts from running around in circles about what had just happened, what he had done, and what he might have just lost forever, but he couldn't. By the time he had returned, he was close to tears, tears he couldn't stop. Fortunately for him, the police had reawakened from the sleeping gas, and Nakamori was shouting at the top of his lungs once again. So, when Ran found him in a corner crying quietly, he blamed it on a headache caused by the inspector, and she believed him, didn't even think to doubt his words. And after giving Nakamori-keibu one final glare and karate chop to the head, the teenage girl took her young charge home.


	18. Chapter 18

018. Black.

His life was supposed to be free from it by now…that accursed color of black. Finally after two very long years, he had taken down the Black Organization, and that should have been that. They shouldn't be able to affect his life in_ any_ way anymore. He was supposed to be back in his original body, leading the picture perfect life as triumphant high school detective with the beautiful, kind childhood friend turned girlfriend at his side. He wasn't supposed to be glancing over his shoulder at every innocent sound and passing shadow. He wasn't supposed to still be stuck in the body of a child, and there was supposed to have been a cure. Most of all, he was definitely _not _supposed to be in love with a phantom thief who had beautiful violet eyes.

But that was his reality, and although he wasn't anywhere near accepting of that fact, he wasn't really fighting it anymore. Mostly because there was no way for him to fight it anymore. And denying the truth was something he couldn't do for long, not when he held truth so near and dear to his heart.

So, black was once invading his life. Only, this time, it was taking a different form. Instead of coming in the visage of a criminal organization with a very uncreative sense of fashion, it developed in the form of crushing depression. Everything seemed so dark, so bleak again. At least, this time, he was surrounded by more than just the color of blood.

He had thought he was getting better, really he had, but that illusion had come crashing down hours, perhaps minutes, after the February 18th Kid heist was over. Not only had he lost something to focus on, but he was also sure he'd lost what little ground he had gained with the thief over the last two years. And really, what kind of relationship was it if two years of interaction could be ripped apart just because he saw only part of the other person's face for only a few seconds?

Logically, Conan knew that there were several ways in which he was actually very lucky, not least of which was being alive. But that didn't really matter when he just couldn't escape the black hole of despair caused by all the could-have-beens in his life. Usually, he didn't dwell on things like that, but it was hard not to when you essentially lost twelve years of your life.

Because he had lost twelve years. The ten years he'd lost because of the apotoxin and the two years he had lost trying to get those ten years back. Except, he couldn't get any of those years back anymore because there was no cure. He had lost an entire life, an entire future, and that was an incredibly hard pill to swallow. In fact, Conan was starting to wonder if he was strong enough to swallow it without falling back into the non-living existence he had been in until Ayumi snapped him out of it.

That's right…Ayumi. He had people he cared about, didn't he? There were several people in Conan's life who he cared about, people he felt closer to after only two years than the people he'd know for sixteen years as Shinichi. Shinichi's only truly close friend was Ran…and maybe the professor. Did neighbors count as friends? The police had respected him, and Sonoko had hung out with him because of Ran, but they weren't really his friends. But Conan had dozens of people: the Shounentantei-dan, Ran, of course, and, oddly enough, Sonoko, Heiji and Kazuha, Eisuke Honda, Sera Masumi, Okiya Subaru, the weird adult-child friendship he had with the officers in Division 1, Jodie-sensei and some of the FBI investigators, and until yesterday, even a weird sort of friendship-rivalry Kaitou Kid.

Maybe it was because he was here, at his old house, that he was thinking such negative thoughts. No…he had come here because he had been those negative thoughts had been spiraling out of control, and he couldn't hide his despair from Ran any longer. So, he'd obtained her permission to spend the night at Professor Agasa's house, and as soon as she'd left him there, Conan had gone straight to the deserted Kudo mansion after only a quick warning to Ai and Agasa.

He had wanted to feel more like himself, more like Shinichi Kudo. So, he'd gone straight to the Kudo library, grabbed the Sign of Four (the original English version since the high school detective was easily fluent in that foreign language) and plopped down in his favorite reading chair, but it really hadn't helped. _Conan_ had opened to the first page of the book, and _Conan's _thoughts picked up right where they had left off at the Mouri Detective Agency.

His thoughts had spiraled down further and further until he remembered the people in his life who had helped him keep his sanity for this long. But was their presence really a blessing in disguise? Truly a silver lining? What did it mean that he had more people who cared about a hastily created persona with a name randomly grabbed off of book covers and pieced together in a moment of panic than people who cared about his true self? Could he really be strong enough to live, actually live not just exist, with them when he couldn't really be himself?

Conan just didn't know anymore. Sure, some of them knew who he really was, knew that Shinichi Kudo lived just beneath the mask of Conan Edogawa, but other than his parents and Professor Agasa, they hadn't actually known him as Shinichi Kudo. They only knew Shinichi Kudo as he was trapped inside Conan Edogawa, and he feared it wasn't enough anymore. Not when he had to pretend 99% of the time. Not when the lies he told were starting to become more true to the rest of the world, and the truth was becoming more of lie.

If only there was someone to keep him from falling further into despair. Someone who really understood the pain of when the lies became truth and the truth became lies. Because Ai didn't understand as well as one might think. Conan would be happier with the truth, but she was happier with the lies. It was probably better that way, because they couldn't get the truth back. He didn't want Ai to be stuck in the same place he was, but he did wish for someone who understood.

Sighing, Conan realized that it had happened _again. _He was back at the bottom of the well of despair. He didn't want to be there, but he didn't know how to climb out. Maybe a change of scenery, maybe some fresh air would do him some good. There was a good spot on his roof for stargazing, and odd as it was, rooftops were a place that gave him some semblance of calm and comfort. That, too, would probably be taken away from him in the future, but it hadn't been taken from him yet.

Placing the unread Sherlock Holmes novel on the nearest end table, Conan left the library without a second glance and climbed the several sets of stairs that led him to the rooftop of the Kudo mansion. As soon as he was settled and gazing at the stars, he started to feel a bit better. Up so high above ground yet so far beneath an endless sea of sky, Conan was able to put things in some sort of perspective.

He couldn't get Shinichi Kudo back, but he didn't have to lose him entirely. He would be Conan almost all the time, but he could also make time to be Shinichi Kudo around those who knew his secret. He would probably be sad for a very long while, but he could get through it. Because despite his earlier pessimistic thoughts, he truly did have people who cared about him to help him through it. Conan was sure it would cause pain to them to see what he was going through, especially since he wouldn't be able to tell them why he was so sad, but they would help him through it anyway…and they'd be closer for it. He'd become stronger because of it…but that was far into the distant future.

Then, he'd have to remove Shinichi Kudo from Beika as much as he possibly could. Maybe the famous high school detective was tired of being famous, tired of being a detective. The story didn't matter at that exact moment, and anyway, it would take some planning, some careful maneuvering to remove Shinichi Kudo from the life he had built for himself for the last two years. It would take time, and time was something he had plenty of. He didn't have to do it right away…but how long was he going to take?

He didn't know the answer to that, but that wasn't the most important thing he had to answer for himself at the moment. No, what he really needed to know most at that particular point in time was pretty much this. What should he do now? Not now, as in this single minute…but now, as in, within the next day, week, and month. What did Conan Edogawa, not Shinichi Kudo, want with his life? How was Conan Edogawa going to escape from the black hole, the deep well, the bottomless pit of despair?

A/N: Okay, I know this chapter was probably super depressing, but I promise it gets happier starting in the next few chapters. Things really get moving and we get to see things take a turn for the better for our favorite detective. So, I ask that you all patiently await the happier time, because depressed Conan was really important to the plotline of this fic. And, as always, thank you to all the wonderful people who favorite, follow, and review.


	19. Chapter 19

019. White

His life seemed to be filled with many strange things, often annoying or difficult to deal with at times, far more than the average person's, even if you took the saying "real life is often stranger than fiction," into account. One of them was, of course, his abysmal (amazing?) luck to run into dead bodies, murder scenes, or situations in which an actual crime was taking place. The other thing his life seemed to be filled to the brim with was the most annoying thing, to him, in the world; it was even worse than Kaitou Kid's strange brand of luck that seemed to twist his own will into reality. And that thing was irony.

Just as Conan was finally starting to accept that he would spend the rest of his not-so-natural born life in a body ten years younger than it should be with an identity that was more hastily put together than any one persona made by any witness protection agency…ever, everything changed…_again._ The universe really seemed to enjoy messing with his mind, or maybe it was just determined to make him lose his sanity. Whatever the reason, Fate seemed to decide that Destiny just wasn't doing it's job properly, and he was left floundering to put his life back into some semblance of order.

About an hour after he had settled down on the rooftop and just minutes after he'd gotten back to the point of deciding not to let what-ifs and could-have-beens rule his life, an explosion of white interrupted his life in the form of the one and only Kaitou Kid.

"Well, hello there, Tantei-kun," the phantom thief said with his trademark grin, half-smug, half-seductive and wholly confident, designed to make any young lady worth her salt fall instantly in love. "Fancy meeting you here, on a rooftop of all places."

"Hi Kid," Conan replied in a deadpan voice, looking away from the thief in a show to pretend he was not the least bit impressed with the charismatic presence that was all but glowing in front of him. He was also hiding the fact that a blush was blooming brightly across his face and that his insides were fluttering with excitement, all because of that stupid grin. Before, he'd never been affected by that stupid grin, but then, he hadn't been in love with the thief before. Or, at least, he'd never recognized it before. Of course, his mind was off running in circles again, wondering why on earth the thief would there, at the Kudo mansion. But it was also accompanied by the slightest thread of dangling hope that said, maybe, just maybe the thief wasn't as disappointed in him for sneaking a peak as he'd originally thought. After all, Kid had greeted him in pretty much the same manner as he had throughout their rivalry, and he'd much rather listen to that voice of hope than the one saying that Kid could easily be masking his true emotions since he was, indeed, a master of performance.

"Aww, Tantei-kun," Kid said in a very whiny tone, aided by a pout to complete the act. "You're not being very nice to me, and I came all the way here to see you specially. I thought you would be happy to see me, especially when we didn't even get to finish our conversation last night."

"Oh, so that's why you're here," Conan said as all the fluttering, hope, and excitement inside of him went cold. Really, why else would the thief seek him out for an in-person confrontation? After all, the thief had only sent a note when he noticed that the miniature detective seemed to be very, very sad. Obviously, the reason he had come here personally was to find out exactly how much Conan had managed to observe and deduce from those few seconds of direct eye contact. "You really don't have anything to worry about. I only saw that your eyes are violet and that your hair is brown. That really doesn't tell me much, but even if it did, I wouldn't use it. I really didn't mean to take advantage of the situation, and I am sorry that it happened."

"Silly Tantei-kun, I already knew all that," Kid said, sounding much closer to Conan than he had moments ago. For just a moment, the not-child was allowed to wonder if perhaps the thief had sat down next to him. Just as Conan was going to turn his head to check, a hand attached itself to his head and playfully ruffled his hair for a few moments before maneuvering the not-child's head to look up at a grinning face that was, of course, eclipsed in shadows cast by moonlight but was also not Kid's true face. Even though all the features were slightly obscured, Conan could tell; it was just too different from what he had seen the night afore.

"You wound me if you think that's the only reason I'm here!" Kid said in an obviously fake, hurt tone as he removed the hand attached to Conan's head and crushed it against his chest above his heart. He remained that way for a few moments before adopting a more serious pose. "Tantei-kun, I know that you didn't look at my face on purpose as well as I know that you're not going to use that information against me or tell it to anyone else. After two years, I know that, despite your age, you are not a detective that would use the ends to justify the means. You are wise beyond your years, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that when I think about the cause of it. But the reason I am here is not because of an accident that lasted a few seconds. I am here because I am honestly worried about my favorite critic who, even after a heist he very much seemed to enjoy, is obviously very sad. What's wrong, Tantei-kun? What happened?"

"It's complicated," Conan replied with a sigh. Although, it was sort of heartening to know what Kid thought really thought of him and that he did genuinely care about the miniature detective, enough for an in-person visit. "I know that sounds stupid coming from an eight-year-old, but it really is. Complicated, I mean. It's really, very complicated, and it's something I can't really talk to people about. Worse still, I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better. But I'm going to be okay eventually."

"Nothing sounds stupid coming from you, Tantei-kun," the phantom thief said in a purposefully serious tone, that was also slightly gentle in an attempt to be comforting. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just keep being you, whoever you are behind that mask," Conan answered with a small smile. "When they come, your heists really are a bright spot in my day whether it's solving the heist note or actually chasing after you on the night of the heists."

"I can do that easily enough," Kid said with a playful grin. "Although, one would think that, as a detective, you should really be trying to catch me right now before I disappear into the night and have another chance to steal something else."

"I've never been most people," Conan replied with a snort. "Besides, until you find whatever it is you're looking for, you're going to continue returning everything you steal."

"So, you even figured that out too?" Kid asked in a tone that really wasn't all inquisitive. "I always knew you were wise beyond your years."

"That's the second time you've said that," the miniature detective said, the part of his mind that handled all deductive reasoning suddenly decided to switch itself on. Finally, it was starting to analyze every word the phantom had during their conversation, and wasn't that a curious thing he was recalling? "You said you weren't sure how you feel about the cause of my apparently being wise beyond my years. What did you mean by that?"

"What do you think I meant, Tantei-kun?" Kid answered a question with a question. "You should know that I've observed you, kept tabs on you every now and again. What do you suppose I think the source is of the intellect you hold that is abnormally high for someone your age?"

"You know, it's thanks to Shinichi-nii-san that you're no longer dodging bullets at every other heist," Conan said, sort of but not really admitting to the fact that he'd known a lot about the Black Organization that had had quite a go at attempting to kill both of them. It wasn't really admitting anything anyway since Kaito obviously knew that the not-child was more involved than most people would ever dream of.

"I'm perfectly aware of that," Kid responded in a harsh tone that the miniature detective suspected was directed toward his older self…past self now. "I'd have to live under a rock or be incredibly stupid not to know that, and it's not as though I'm not grateful for it. But because of him involving you in his case, you've been changed, possibly more than anyone can ever know or guess. And as fun a playmate you make at my heists, if all it cost me was an amazing rival, I would gladly give it up for you to be an innocently ignorant child once more."

"Being wise beyond one's years always comes at a price," Conan stated rather directly. "I suspect you know that better than most; I suspect you have experienced it first hand. But it doesn't matter either way. My being involved, my knowing about the Black Organization, it was never something Shinichi-nii-san had any control over or any say in. And like I said before, I'll be okay eventually. I just have to learn to live with certain consequences I was determined to believe would never happen when they were always very real and distinct possibilities."

"Well, that certainly sounds complicated Tantei-kun," the phantom thief said in an odd tone, almost as if it was reminiscent. "And I think we've had enough complicated talk for one night. It's getting late, and I need to be getting home." As he said this, Kaitou Kid stood up in a swirl of white, and this time, Conan watched rather than look. "I'll be seeing you, Tantei-kun."

"Wait!" Conan called just as the thief was about to take off. Something that had been sitting in the back of his mind during their entire conversation was suddenly hopping haphazardly about in front of everything else. "How did you find me here?"

"Normally, I'd reply with, 'A magician never reveals his secrets,'" Kid answered with a smile. "But I suppose, for you, this time I can say that I might have gone to the Mouri Detective Agency to check up on you and might have heard Mouri-chan talking on the phone to her friend. I also might have heard her mention that her Conan-kun had gone to spend the night at Agasa-hakase's house, and after that, I might have come straight over here. Then, I might have spotted you on the rooftop of your cousin's house looking sad and might have decided to talk to you in person."

"Oh, by the way, here." He tossed something at Conan the sparkled softly in the moonlight, and with that, he flew off into the night, a bright white spot against the dark night sky. Conan watched him glide away until the phantom thief had turned into a small white dot that was only distinguishable from the shining stars because it moved in conjunction with the motion of the wind.

Conan, of course, had caught what the thief had tossed to him, what with having lightning reflexes and all, but he didn't look at it until he could no longer tell where Kid was in the night sky. Opening his tightly clasped hands, the shrunken detective saw a blue stone, a lapis lazuli in the shape of a tear, the Shallow Shroud, the Bringer of Truth, resting in his palms.


	20. Chapter 20

020. Colourless.

Conan didn't think much about the gemstone as he went to lie down in his own bed that night…early morning, but he did place it on the night stand as a reminder of the conversation he had with Kid, a confirmation that the phantom thief did, indeed, still trust him. After all, to give Conan a stolen jewel was to trust him to return it, to trust him to uphold Kid's reputation and not tell the policeman he gave it to what he had most recently learned about the thief's true identity. It was kind of funny that, after having been so sad, something so simple could actually make him fairly happy. Of course, his good mood wasn't hurt by the fact that the shrunken teenager had also kind of gotten to the point where he sort of accepted that he was going to have to live out the rest of his life in a body ten years too young.

As he drifted off staring at the Shallow Shroud, Conan fell into an odd sort of dream. It didn't feel like a dream, but it had to be. He knew things were happening, but they didn't make any sense. He could feel something burning, but it was apart from him, as though held back by some sort of force field. Conan could almost see the field that was protecting him and the fire beyond it, but it was odd sense of seeing. There were no colors, not even white or black. There could be no presence or absence of all colors, because there were no colors.

But it had to be this way. The detective knew that with a certainty, though he had no idea why he knew it was so. It was like the lack of colors was somehow helping protect him from something horrible; although, he had absolutely no clue as to what that horrible something was. And there really was nothing he could do but stand there and watch the oddly colorless fire burn. So, that's exactly what he did...until sunlight filtered through the window with the morning sunrise, and his eyes opened to see in colors again. Glancing to his right, he noticed the time; something about it struck him funny. It was exactly six hours after he had opened his hands to see that Kid had given him the Shallow Shroud. Why he thought that was funny and how he even knew that it was exactly six hours, Conan didn't really understand, so he shrugged it aside.

Yawning as he sat up and stretched out his oddly stiff body, the detective felt like something was wrong…maybe not wrong, but definitely different. Confused, he rolled out of bed, and as soon as he stood up, reality hit him like a ton of bricks. He had not needed to hop down to get off the bed. He had only needed to stand up. He wasn't looking straight at one of the bottom drawers of his dresser; he was staring down at the top of it. And his once loose pajamas now felt oddly tight.

What…the…hell?

Not daring to believe it, the detective raced to the bathroom, and his eyes confirmed what his mind and body already knew. Somehow, some way, he was once again Shinichi Kudo!

Oh, no, this was not happening. No, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening. How the hell had this even happened? This was bad. Very, very bad. Of course, this was what he had wanted. He was overjoyed, sort of, to be Shinichi Kudo again, but for it to happen so suddenly was definitely not good. The reappearance of Shinichi Kudo and disappearance of Conan Edogawa was as delicate an operation, perhaps more so, than erasing Shinichi Kudo would have been. What on earth was he going to do? How was he going to explain this to everyone? Oh, he needed serious help.


	21. Chapter 21

021. Friends

Panic threatened to overwhelm him, but the _high school _detective forced himself to remain calm. He needed help, which he could get. Despite his earlier pessimistic thoughts on the matter, Shinichi Kudo did have friends, friends whom he had made as Conan Edogawa and could help him with this problem. And as he started planning ways he might be able to manipulate future events that would keep his life from spiraling completely out of control...again, Shinichi decided to go visit one of the people whose help he would need more than most. Also, it would probably be easier to work this all out if he had someone to actually talk to.

Walking back to his bedroom to get ready for the day, the black-haired teen's mind was whirling around faster than it did during a difficult case or when he was deciphering a Kaitou Kid note. He had so much to plan for, so much to do. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how many lives he had touched as Conan Edogawa. There would be no way for him to give them all a proper good-bye. So, Conan's reason for leaving would have to be swift and indisputable, but it also had to be believable. He had an idea, but he couldn't execute it on his own; in fact, most of what he was planning was going to be in the hands of other people.

Forcing his brain to stop thinking about all the things to come, Shinichi finished dressing himself, grabbed the Shallow Shroud just to be safe, left his house, and walked over to the house next door because inside were the two people on whom his plans hinged the most. Ai's cooperation and Agasa's inventions would be paramount in making Conan disappear.

Not bothering with the doorbell since he had long ago been given an extra house key, the high school detective just let himself into the house and headed for the kitchen. Since it was still early in the morning, that was the most logical place for both of this house's occupants to be, especially since they were people who actually ate breakfast (one that included more than just coffee). However, Professor Agasa was a coffee drinker, so that meant there would probably be some waiting for him when he got there, the mere thought of which filled Shinichi's heart with joy.

Of course, Shinichi had been right, and Ai and Agasa were peacefully eating their breakfast when the high school detective walked in. The response was instantaneous. Agasa spit out the coffee he was drinking, and his speech, soon after, devolved into an incoherent sputtering mess of hows, whys, whens, and a whole host of other things that the high school detective couldn't answer, even if he'd had the chance to. Ai, on the other hand, had jumped off her chair, seized his hand, and started pulling him to her lab, the teen was left stumbling every few feet since he was now completely hunched over due to their joined hands.

Without speaking, Ai speedily went through performing a series of tests on Shinichi to make sure that he was in fact Shinichi, that he hadn't taken one of the temporary antidotes without telling her, and that the change was going to be permanent this time. Well, the test results came back, and every single one of those things were confirmed. So, when she finally did speak, the words that came out of her mouth were this, "What happened?"

"I don't know what happened," Shinichi answered honestly. "I just woke up this morning, and Bam! I wasn't Conan anymore. And as interesting a mystery as magically growing up is, I'm not quite so worried about finding about why I changed back so much as making Conan Edogawa leave without looking suspicious. The Black Organization may have been taken down, but that doesn't mean I want the whole world knowing I was a child for two whole years. I really don't need that extra media attention."

"Not to mention," Ai said as she hopped up on the hospital bed next to Shinichi and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She could tell that he was freaking out, and despite her usually cold attitude, the shrunken scientist cared a great deal about her detective friend. "A lot of people would want to haul you off to perform experiments. And the dregs of the Black Organization that were split between trying to find you and trying to get revenge on little Conan would probably join together to chase after Shinichi Kudo once they knew that the high school detective and his little cousin were actually one and the same. Furthermore, the police can't protect Kudo as well as they could protect Conan. You're too famous and are known to be able to take care of yourself…so, how are you going to handle the disappearance of Conan Edogawa?"

"That's why I'm here," Shinichi said hesitantly. "I'm really going to need your help. I know you hated doing it before, but are you willing to dress up and act as me for a short period of time? It's the best way I can of think of to do things."

"You're so going to owe me for this Kudo-kun," Ai replied with a grimace because she knew she was going to have to act a _lot _more convincingly this time than she had before and was really not looking forward to it. "But yes, I'll be you. It's safer for me as well if Conan doesn't just disappear into thin air. What's the plan?"

He quickly explained it to her, as much as he had thought out anyway, and she agreed that it was probably the best they could do with the situation they suddenly found themselves in. As soon as they were done discussing the basics, Shinichi set about making phone calls to the other people he needed help from. More specific details would be discussed and enacted once he had ensured everyone else's help.

The first call he made was to Hattori. The Great Detective of the West was happy to hear that Shinichi Kudo had finally returned and agreed instantly to come and help in Operation: Bring back Conan so he can disappear for good. Before they had even finished talking, Hattori was packed and heading to the train station to hop on the first available train to Tokyo. He was in such a hurry that he barely remembered to leave his mother and father a note, and that meant a lot to Shinichi. He'd been so wrong to be so depressed before. His friends were amazing.

His next phone call was to Professor Agasa's cell phone. The professor always had it with him, and Shinichi wasn't sure Agasa was ready to have this conversation in person. When the professor answered his phone, he did still sound a bit shocked but mostly recovered, so maybe the phone call wasn't needed. Well, the professor _had _taken it pretty well when he'd first become Conan. Either way, they were already connected, so Shinichi just asked the professor for a few revised inventions that would be needed in the initial stages of the operation. Just like with Hattori, Agasa was off and running before they hung up the phone.

The third call was to Eisuke Honda, to let him know what was going on more than anything else. The bespectacled teen was due to return to Japan soon, and Shinichi wanted to prevent Eisuke accidentally spouting out unnecessary information in surprise. At that thought, the high school detective suddenly felt that maybe he was being too paranoid and over-thinking things, leading to uncharitable thoughts. However, he couldn't help it; that was what happened after living in hiding for so long.

Anyway, Eisuke was surprised to hear from Shinichi, which wasn't a surprising happenstance, and he _was_ grateful that the high school detective had told him he wasn't Conan anymore, but the bespectacled teen was a bit confused as to why Shinichi had called him. Shinichi explained it was just in case the FBI ever tried to contact Conan again, because they had, for whatever reason, contacted him a few times after the take down of the Black Organization. He was hoping that Eisuke could help him in the event of that happening by giving Shinichi a heads up or making up a story as to why the miniature detective could no longer be contacted. Eisuke, who was still grateful that Shinichi had orchestrated the take down of the organization that had basically killed his father and had created a world where he and his sister could now live without a fake identity, agreed without a second thought.

The last phone call he had to make, at the moment, was to Ran. There wasn't anything she could really do to help with making Conan disappear except act like a sad older sister about to say goodbye to her adorable younger brother for a very, very long time, and as much as he trusted her and wanted to tell her what was going on, the most believable performance she could give would be the one where she still really did think Conan was Conan. So, this phone call would be to make sure she didn't come to Agasa's house looking for Conan and find Shinichi instead.

He _hated_ deceiving her like this. Ran was his _friend, _and he'd already hurt her more than enough. Going through the pain of losing Conan right after losing Shinichi and finding out she'd gone through all of that for nothing would hurt her all the more. These thoughts made him start to hate himself all over again, so Shinichi was left staring at the phone forlornly, hoping that his wonderful childhood friend would somehow, some way, some time in the future find it in her heart to forgive him.

"Do you want me to call her?" Ai asked softly, gently taking a hold of his hand, breaking Shinichi out of his mind and into reality.

"No," the high school detective said shaking his head and pulling his voice changer out of his pocket, setting it to Conan's voice, a setting he had never thought he would use. "If someone is going to lie to her, it should be me."

Dialing the number to the Mouri Detective Agency, he put the bowtie up to his mouth and said in a falsely cheerful voice, "Hi Ran-nee-chan."


	22. Chapter 22

022. Enemies

As Kaito flew away from the Kudo mansion after his talk with Conan, he was still extremely worried about the miniature detective. The child was far too serious for his own good. What could have possibly happened to make him so sad? Apparently, it was complicated, whatever it was, and knowing Tantei-kun, it couldn't be anything but.

Kaito wanted to do something for Conan, wanted to help him feel better, but he didn't know what to do. Obviously, he couldn't keep giving the kid real heist notices. Conan had to sleep some time, and Kaito only held heists at night. Not to mention, he couldn't suddenly focus all his heists in Beika. That would just be asking for trouble. Plus, there weren't that many jewels left that fit the vague yet specific description of gem he was looking for, and there weren't really any displayed in Beika at the moment, unless you counted the Shallow Shroud once it was returned.

But Conan had said that he liked deciphering the heist notes, and that was something Kaito could give the miniature detective on a regular basis. Well, they wouldn't really be heist notes, but they would be complicated riddles that Conan would have to work at puzzling out. And he would have to deliver the notes, which gave him an excuse to check on Tantei-kun more often, not that he really needed an excuse. Either way, the phantom thief had just thought up a way to maybe help Conan out of his depression. Because, if nothing else, it would give the small detective something different to focus on.

New plan in mind, Kaito began writing the riddle in his head as he flew the rest of the way home. Once he landed, he went straight to his secret room and jotted down the note on some paper (the fact that it wasn't actually a heist note hidden inside the riddle itself), complete with a Kaitou Kid doodle. Then, he got ready for and climbed into bed thinking of how glad he was that there was no school the next day and that he could deliver the note to Tantei-kun right away.

Assuming that Conan would still be at the Kudo mansion, or at the very least next door in the professor's house, Kaito disguised himself as a normal citizen and headed over to Beika. However, the situation he found upon arriving at the Kudo mansion was not what he expected. The whole mansion was completely empty, no signs of _Conan_ having spent the night there (Shinichi Kudo obviously had, but the phantom thief still wasn't sure how he felt about the high school detective), no signs that he'd even spent any time there the night before (and Kudo, who was _not _known to be a morning person, probably wouldn't be awake enough to clean up after the boy yet), but that wasn't possible because he'd talked to the miniature detective on the roof last night. Well, maybe Conan had just been at the Kudo Mansion for that short amount of time he and Kaito had conversed on the roof. That would make sense.

Leaving the Kudo mansion, Kaito carefully and quietly made his way into Professor Agasa's and headed in the direction he heard voices, hoping Conan would be there. If not, well, it was highly unlikely that the house's occupants would notice him. If they did, he wouldn't be worthy of the name Kaitou Kid. And if the miniature detective was there, the phantom thief could just place the note nearby, somewhere Conan was sure to find it later. However, when he got to the place he heard the voices coming from, he saw a sight that enraged him. It was Conan's voice speaking, but the words were coming out of Shinichi Kudo's mouth.

"Hi Ran-nee-chan," Shinichi spoke in a brightly false voice that was actually Conan's. "I'm having a really fun time at Agasa-hakase's house right now. He made this really awesome new game. Can I stay another night? Please, please, please Ran-nee-chan."

The time it took for the miniature detective's guardian / adopted older sister to respond…agree was about three seconds. Apparently, Ran Mouri was as worried about Conan as Kaito was and agreed instantly to the kid staying over when it sounded like he was currently very happy and having a good time. Except, it wasn't Conan who was speaking, and Shinichi Kudo looked the world was coming to an end. What the hell was going on? What had happened to Conan Edogawa? Although unsure as he was about he personally felt about the high school detective, Kaito had always known that Kudo always had reasons for whatever he did.

So, that meant that something had to have happened to Conan, because there would be no other reason for Shinichi Kudo to lie to his childhood friend like that. The phantom thief had a sneaking suspicion that it was partially the high school detective's fault that the miniature detective was wherever he had gone, and that was not something Kaito would easily forgive. In fact, it was something that greatly pissed him off, because he cared about Tantei-kun, one of the best rivals Kid had ever had despite how young this particular critic was, and the high school detective had already put his young cousin through enough, and had involved him in a case that probably brought Conan more pain than was enough to last a lifetime, especially since he was so young when he was shown such a dark part of the world and had had his innocent ripped away from him.

Mentally growling in anger, Kaito left the professor's house as silently and inconspicuously as he had entered it and went back to the Kudo mansion to wait for Shinichi Kudo's return. He did not have to wait too long, about half an hour, before Kudo returned to find an angry phantom thief sitting on his bed in his bedroom. True to his name, the Great Detective of the East knew instantly who his uninvited visitor was despite the disguise and greeted the phantom thief a bit formally.

"Good morning Kaitou Kid-san," Shinichi Kudo had said with a slight bow of his head. "For what reason have you come to see me?"

"I didn't come to see you," Kaito replied in a voice that seemed calm but spoke all kinds of threats, a voice that was scarier than any taunting or shouting could have been. His expression was arranged in a perfect poker face, but the high school detective could see the raging anger alight in the thief's eyes. "I came to see Tantei-kun, Conan Edogawa, _your_ cousin. What happened to him? What have you done this time?"

"Something of a rather personal nature happened," Shinichi Kudo replied slowly, as though he was unsure what to say. "It is not something I feel comfortable telling you. When Conan returns, he can decide for himself whether or not to tell you what happened."

"And I'm supposed to just blindly believe he's okay," the thief asked, still in that dangerously calm tone of voice. "That he will come back just because you say he will. Tantei-kun was depressed for some reason, and depressed people often take drastic measures. It's your fault that he was ever involved with the Black Organization. Don't you feel any responsibility? He told me it was going to get worse before it got better. What if he meant he was going to kill himself and…?"

"And what hope we eventually forget about him?" the detective asked with an incredulous voice. "Look, Conan would _never _think that. What he meant was that he would probably go through a period of deeper depression before he really healed."

"Even so," Kaito said through gritted teeth, forcing back a growl that was threatening to tear out of his throat. "It's still your fault he was involved. It's still your fault he's depressed."

"There never was, and still is, nothing I could ever do about that," Kudo replied calmly. "Now, if that's all, would you be so kind as to leave? I have things to take care of."

Turning his back so that the flippant high school detective wouldn't see the anger he could no longer keep from his expression, Kaito reached into his pocket, pulled out the not-heist note, and threw it on the bed next to him saying, "Make sure Tantei-kun gets that. It's the least you could do."

Then, he left just as the detective had requested, but the thief didn't leave empty handed. No, he had gained something before leaving that he hadn't had before. Kaito knew exactly how he felt about the famous Shinichi Kudo, and they weren't at all friendly feelings. He and the detective weren't enemies yet, but one more step in the wrong direction, and they _definitely _would be.


	23. Chapter 23

023. Lovers

It seemed as though he was destined to fail at every romantic relationship he might ever have been involved in before it even started. He might have a great deal of luck in finding and making good, lasting friendships. However, as soon as he realized his feelings, as soon as he started wanting something more, something would happen and tear those chances to shreds. The irony of it wall was that something had always been Conan.

With Ran, he had been well aware of his own feelings since at least the middle of junior high. However, he hadn't really started planning to make his move until their almost date at Tropical Land. But before he could do anything, the Black Organization had struck, and he had been de-aged by ten years.

And even as Conan Edogawa, Shinichi had considered several times, actually tried a few, to tell Ran everything, including his feelings. But he would transform back into Conan too quickly or be reminded by Haibara how dangerous his life really was now that he involved with the Black Organization.

Then, he finally brought down the Black Organization, but he was getting far too much media attention. With the possibility of being bugged, however illegal that might have been, there was no way in hell he could tell her who he really was.

And then, he had fallen for Kaitou Kid, the phantom thief with a strict adherence to his own strange moral code. At first, Shinichi had known he could never say anything because he had had the body of an eight year old, but when the depth of Kid's trust was revealed to him, the detective had started hoping for more.

The very next day, he was magically Shinichi again, but all hope had died once more. If Conan hadn't disappeared so suddenly, Shinichi might have had a chance. But as it was, Kaitou Kid blamed Shinichi Kudo for everything wrong with Conan and now seemed just a few steps away from hating him.

So, it was official. He was doomed to die alone without a lover, because Shinichi somehow knew that his hear had forever been stolen by Kid, even if the thief did not want it. This was one treasure he would not be able to return.


End file.
